A rollout of a new telecommunications network may be a task requiring a lot of manual intervention. In addition, when new network nodes are added to an operational network, a significant amount of manpower may be required since the new node may run integrated in the new network environment. The cost for a manual integration of a network node into a network may be a high portion of the total operational expenditure (OPEX) of an operator.
During installation of a network node into a network prior to the first installation and commissioning of the network node, the node and corresponding OAM systems may be manually provided with a network address, a site- and operator-specific software, and a site- and an operator-specific configuration data. Since the node may usually not be delivered to the installation site with the appropriate addresses, software and configuration data this installation may be done by the field personnel on site, e.g., by using a Local Maintenance Terminal attached to the network node. Tests may also be performed and thus, the field personal installing a network node may be highly qualified personal.
Installing a network node may consume a significant amount of time of highly qualified personal.
The IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) RFC (Request for Comment) 2132, “DHCP Options and BOOTP Vendor Extensions”, March 1997, specifies a set of DHCP options.
The IETF RFC2131, “Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol”, March 1997, describes a framework for passing configuration information to hosts on a TCP/IP network.
The IETF RFC3315, “Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6)”, July 2003, describes enabling of DHCP servers to pass configuration parameters such as IPv6 network addresses to IPv6 nodes.
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project Technical Specification 3GPP TS 32.501, Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects, Telecommunication management, “Self Establishment of eNodeBs (SEe); Concept and Requirements”, Release 8, 2008 July, describes concepts how self-establishment works.
The 3rd Generation Partnership Project Technical Specification 3GPP TS 32.501, Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects, Telecommunication management, “Generic Integration Reference Point (IRP) management; Requirements”, Release 7, 2007 June, defines a common service supported by all IRPs.
The document “Next Generation Mobile Networks”, by Board of NGMN limited, White Paper V3.0, 5 Dec. 2006, identifies self-configuration as reducing costs and simplifying the installation procedures.
Number Resources, such as international enterprise numbers, are coordinated by the Internet Assign Numbers Authority (IANA), http://www.iana.org.